Nelson Mandela sat twice for Coetzee for commissioned portraits, once during his term as President and again together with Graça Machel for a wedding portrait. These portraits were both for Mandela’s private collection, and were originally displayed in the entrance chamber of his Johannesburg (Houghton) residence.
Subsequently the Presidential one was donated to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. In 1998 Coetzee attended a banquet with Nelson Mandela and Peter Ustinov, where he made three paintings available to be auctioned on the QE 2 as a fundraiser for the Children’s fund.

Coetzee presidential portrait of Mandela was used on an international postage stamp to commemorate the 90th birthday of Mandela. In addition to the above portraits, Coetzee painted several smaller portraits of Mandela as studies and related exercises.